Newswatch

By Star-Bulletin Staff

Friday, April 25, 1997

Irradiation facility
funding approved

HILO -- A Hawaii County Council committee has voted to spend $2 million for an irradiation facility to kill fruit flies in tropical fruits, but it also says it would prefer to have private industry build it.

The two 6-1 votes last night following nearly 13 hours of testimony were a victory for Mayor Stephen Yamashiro, who requested the money.

The committee amended Yamashiro's request slightly saying the money could be used to build the facility or it could be used for crop development and product promotion.

Yamashiro had begun the marathon session at 8 a.m. by asking for money only to construct a facility.

When the session ended at 8:45 p.m., the Council had also passed a resolution saying it would prefer to have private industry build the facility.

The issue now faces a final vote by the full nine-member Council.

Pacific delegation
fights cuts in EWC

The fight to save the East-West Center continues on Capitol Hill.

U.S. Reps. Neil Abercrombie and Patsy Mink and Democratic Delegates Eni Faleomavaega of American Samoa and Robert Underwood of Guam opposed cuts to the center's $10 million budget in a letter yesterdayto U.S. Rep. Alan Mollohan, ranking Democratic member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, State and Judiciary.

The group wants the subcommittee to maintain the $10 million budget for next year and not slice an additional $3 million in federal funding for the 37-year-old institution, as proposed in President Clinton's 1998 budget.

Since 1994, the Honolulu-based agency has seen its federal funding freefall from $26 million to $10 million today.

The institution is working to generate more private money, but needs a $10 million bare-bones budget to survive.

"As a respected and trusted national institution with an international reach into Asia and the Pacific, the center ensures our country's ability to play a leading role in the fastest growing region in the world, a market that directly provides nearly three million jobs for Americans and where the political stability is essential to our global peace and prosperity," the letter stated.

Contractor sues city
in Blaisdell Center job

A Japanese company is suing the city and several of its partners in connection with improvements it made at the Blaisdell Center complex.

Circuit Court records show Maeda Kensetsu Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha, doing business as Maeda (Hawaii), is suing the city and two private companies for breach of contract and failing to pay for costs beyond the firm's control.

According to the lawsuit, Maeda in February 1993 gave the low bid of $13.4 million for expansion of the Blaisdell exhibition hall and was hired to do the work. The suit claims there were errors and discrepancies in the contracts, "particularly between the plans and the conditions actually encountered at the project, inclusive of discrepancies between the architectural and structural drawings."

The suit says that the city compelled Maeda to work while "special events" took place in the exhibition hall and that the Finance Department failed to respond to written requests for information.

As a result, the suit said, the company sustained more than $5 million in additional costs.

The city's co-defendants are Kimura/Ybl, architect and consultant; and Shigemura Lau, structural engineer and consultant.

See expanded coverage in today's Honolulu Star-Bulletin.
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Police/Fire


By Star-Bulletin staff

10,995 pot plants
seized by police

HILO -- Police seized 10,995 marijuana plants and made three arrests as the third day of a marijuana eradication operation shifted to areas north of Hilo.

Two 17-year-old boys from Haina Camp near Honokaa were arrested yesterday when they were seen harvesting plants on former Hamakua Sugar land, police said. Police found 23 plants with them. They were released to the custody of their parents pending investigation.

In a separate incident, a 49-year-old Paauhau man was arrested when he was seen in a marijuana patch trying to conceal plants from a police helicopter, police said. They said they recovered 230 plants from him. He was also released pending investigation.

Yesterday's seizures bring the three-day total to 30,007 plants, police said.

Suspect arrested
after knife threat

Police arrested an 18-year-old man accused of brandishing a butterfly knife at the manager of a Waikiki establishment after he was denied entry.

He allegedly tried to enter the Mermaid House on Kalakaua Avenue just after 9 last night but was asked to leave when he could not produce any identification.

Prison escapees
back in custody

Prison escapee Anna Watson is back in custody.

Deputy Sheriffs Pat Lewis and Roger Cheeseborough, acting on a tip, found Watson at a residence in Moanalua about 9 a.m. yesterday.

Watson, 31, who surrendered without resistance, escaped from a halfway house June 24, 1996. She was sentenced to prison in 1995 for two drug convictions and now faces additional time for her escape.

Also located yesterday in downtown and returned to the Oahu Community Correctional Center was 21-

year-old Laumaka inmate Derek Murakami. Murakami left the furlough facility Wednesday and failed to return yesterday morning.

Other Police/Fire headlines
in today’s Star-Bulletin:

• Man investigated for bogus check
  
• Herbicide drives swimmers away
  
• Lifeguard honored for nabbing juveniles